


Sleep, My Tiger

by HighlandYorkie



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Angst, Dr J H Watson, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-21
Updated: 2012-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-31 13:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/344353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlandYorkie/pseuds/HighlandYorkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Colonel prepares to go to war, the professor knows he must do something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep, My Tiger

 

Moriarty said nothing he couldn’t, for once his eloquent speech failed him.

“I have to do this professor” Colonel Moran explained “I can’t sit by and let this go on any longer…maybe there is something I can give the lads”

Professor James Moriarty (retired professor of mathematics) looked at his secretary, his companion, friend and long term lover and sighed.

Sebastian Moran hadn’t really changed, the passing of the years while they had left his hair greyer and a his face was more speckled, they had for the most part been kind to him.

He still had the same fight, the same sense of mischief, the same love of life that had drawn Moriarty to him in the first place.

And now something far bigger than anyone had ever known threatened to pull them apart forever.

Finally Moriarty managed to speak.

“When do you leave?”

Moran smiled, a look of relief and hope crossed his face

“In the morning, I need to be at the barracks by lunch…ship sails later in the day sir”

“But surely…your age Sebastian..are you not too old for the front, for active duty?”

Moran bristled and glared at Moriarty “I can still out shoot any of these young pups professor..plus this war has gone on long enough..it’s bloody madness”

Moriarty threw up his hands

“I do not wish to argue with you Sebastian, not when we have so little time left”

Moran closed the gap between himself and the seated professor, then with a smile he kissed the slightly older mans lips tenderly

“Would you like to bunk with me tonight, my billet is yours as always?”

Moriarty smiled and yet his heart felt heavy, already Moran was acting the soldier once more.

It was like he was finally loosing him, after all they had fought and been through together.  How dare the very seeds that he Professor James Moriarty had sown threaten the one thing that meant everything to him.

“I would like that very much my dear colonel…but perhaps my own bed would be more comfortable for the two of us”

Sebastian Moran nodded and smiled

“Do you need me to help you upstairs professor?”

“No, not tonight…I need to go to the kitchen first..I’ll see you up there”

“But sir, tell me what you need and I will fetch it”

“I’m not a complete invalid Moran, at least allow me the honour of serving you supper tonight…damn it man, why make this so difficult” the professor fought back a sob as he struggled to stand.

Unlike Colonel Moran, the fates had not smiled too kindly upon James Moriarty, he was plagued by arthritis and his vision was slowly fading.  But still his great mind worked at break neck speed…this time it had an urgent and very personal problem to solve.

“I’ll run a bath then sir and thank you”

“For what?” the professor asked looking a trifle bemused

“Well, being honest I expected you to kick up one hell of a fuss sir, even got it into my head that you would shoot me to stop me joining up”

“That thought had crossed my mind Colonel”

“Oh” Moran suddenly looked sheepish “You ain’t gonna are you?”

“No.. it is too risky, neither of us are as young as we once were and even a minor wound could prove fatal”

“I’ll come back you know” Moran suddenly spurted out “they couldn’t kill me in Afghanistan or India and lord knows they tried”

Moriarty nodded and walked slowly towards the kitchen, his mind having formulated a plan of action

“I think there is some ham and chicken left” he half mumbled

Moran watched him leave the room, ever vigilant in case the professor needed him.

Not that Moriarty would ever let on that he needed help, it had been a good six months before Moran had noticed just how bad the professors sight had gotten and he’d lost track of the number of bruises he’d seen on Moriarty before he wrangled it out of him that he was suffering with crippling arthritis.

Then for two long years Moran had sat back and listened to the reports that filtered through to the professor about the Great War. He listened and read the papers until he could take no more, he had to do something..anything and so he did, he joined up.

Not as an active soldier like the professor had gotten into his head, but as a simple orderly..little did Moriarty know that the colonel had approached Dr John Watson and asked for his help. They might have been foes once but the doctor understood the burning desire to do something since he felt the same thing himself and thus he managed to get Moran a position as an orderly with the Medical Corp, better than nothing, Moran had thought at the time.

Sighing he slowly climbed the stairs

“I think jasmine and lavender bath salts will be perfect for tonight”

In the kitchen Moriarty was busy, he had gathered together all that he needed, all he wanted now was to know was that Colonel Sebastian Moran was in fact getting the bath like he said he was.

Within minutes the sound he had been waiting for filtered down from upstairs, as often was his want Sebastian Moran sang in the bath.  He would sing anything and everything but tonight he was treating the professor to some opera, Don Giovanni to be precise.

Slipping quietly and quickly out of the kitchen he went to his study and opened his strongbox, there hidden amongst far too many papers and abandoned projects was the one thing he needed.

A little something to make a tiger sleep.

By the time Moriarty had prepared the food and tea, Moran was already laid in his bed.  The same cocksure smirk on his face that he had wanted to slap off all those years ago, instead on that fateful night Moriarty had subdued his tiger by showing him the true meaning of physical pleasure.

“You OK professor you look a bit…pale sir?” Moran asked sitting up a genuine look of concern on his face

“I’m fine Sebastian, just my knee is troubling me”

“Shall I get your liniment professor?”

“Not at all” Moriarty smiled and set the tray he had been carrying on the bed “I’ve made a pot of marsala chai for you”

“Professor” Moran beamed “Thank you sir, thank you so very much”

Moriarty slipped out of his clothes and not even bothering to pull on a nightshirt he climbed into the bed beside Moran who was too busy pouring himself a cup of the almost black tea to notice the professors nakedness.

James Moriarty watched on smiling a little, as Moran first sniffed the aromatic brew then tentatively took a sip, then another much longer one

“Hmm, professor..it’s been a while since I tasted this, takes me right back to the old days”

“Please Sebastian, I think after all these years you should call me by my first name”

The second Moriarty spoke he knew he had made a mistake, Moran suddenly stopped drinking his tea and looked at him like he was insane.

“W-what?”

“I was simply wondering why you never call me by my name?” Moriarty desperately tried to cover up what he was and had done

“Well, because you said you kill me if I ever did and secondly, because it don’t feel right” Moran took another sip then paused “You is up to something Moriarty, I can tell”

“Please Sebastian, you are about to go off to war…why on earth would I be up to something, please just once say my name”

Colonel Sebastian Moran looked suitably mollified

“I’m sorry James, it’s just I’ve never seen myself as your equ—” then he gave a brief look of shock before his eyes rolled back and he slumped against Moriarty, who had been counting the seconds to himself, waiting for the strong sedative to take effect

“My apologies Sebastian, but there is no way I will allow you to throw your life away”

The professor moved the tray to a side table and emptied the sedative laced tea into the chamber pot.

Then slipping back into bed next to the now sleeping form of the colonel he kissed the mans temples as he allowed his fingers to explore every inch of Moran’s features, as his thumb caressed his lips, the professor whispered quietly

“There are things that I should have said, admitted to you  so many years before Sebastian but I was afraid that if you ever heard me..you would flee and I cannot bear the thought of a life without you beside me”

“My dear colonel, my sleeping tiger" the professor gulped as he spoke the last few words "Sebastian, I love you”

As he finally uttered those three final precious words Professor Moriarty kissed his assassin fully on the mouth.  Then closing his own eyes Moriarty drifted off to sleep, knowing full well that Moran would sleep for the next 36 hours and miss that infernal ship to France and beyond.

What the professor failed to notice was the single tear that ran down the cheek of Colonel Sebastian Moran as he slept.


End file.
